A Visit to the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, December 2009.

by Sandy DuganPrinted in Reflections: January, 2010.

During a December holiday trip to Chicago, Lowbrow newcomers Betsy and
Sandy Dugan made their first visit to the
Adler Planetarium. The exhibits were fascinating! Here, in no-priority
order, are some impressions:

1) The Gemini XII space capsule. The very capsule in which Jim Lovell and
Buzz Aldrin orbited Earth for four days in
November 1966 and did final experiments to allow the Apollo Moon program
that began the following year. Seeing the
small living quarters for astronauts and the ablated heat shield close
up was interesting. The docent said that, because of
a computer malfunction, the astronauts had to use a sextant and shot stars
in order to navigate; knowing the constellations
was a matter of survival.

2) The “Night Sky Live” planetarium show was well done. Similar
to one we had seen a few weeks before at the U-M
Exhibit Museum Planetarium, it featured constellations and objects visible
in Chicagoland.

3) The Space Visualization Laboratory, an on-site research lab at the planetarium,
develops ways to display astronomical
data. They call it “astro-visualization” and use computer graphics,
including 3-D, as well as photographic images to help
make information comprehensible. One of their products is the “Moon
Wall” (See below). The lab receives visitors for
an hour on weekday afternoons. Michael Werner, JPL Project Scientist for
the Spitzer Space Telescope, on a visit to his
home town, made an impromptu presentation on Spitzer that included a guided
tour of the Milky Way galaxy map on
display at the Adler. The map, three feet high (bulging to six feet at
the galactic center), stretches 120 feet along several
walls and is a visual color representation of Spitzer data. “We make
no apology,” said Dr. Werner, “for doing visual representation
of data. There are things that the human brain can see that no computer
could imagine.” It was thrilling for us
to hear him describe various features: e.g., red areas, where hydrocarbon
rich dust has been burned away, surrounded by
green areas, where it has not; dark tendrils, where even infrared radiation
is absorbed by dust; the “Pillars of Creation,”
rising like dark mesas of dust with white star-forming areas on top; the
massive black hole at the center of the galaxy.
For the latter, the lab shows a graphic animation of stars making elliptical
orbits around the center; this is evidence of the
black hole’s existence. Dr. Werner said that evidence of black holes
at the center of all galaxies is one of the most important
discoveries of the last two decades.

4) The Moon Wall. Standing at hand controls, the visitor looks down on
a wide screen that displays a composite of visual
images of Earth’s moon. The controls move the composite as if the
visitor is flying above the lunar surface. You can
zoom down to explore a feature in greater detail and then swoop up and
move on to another location.

5) An exhibit on the history of telescopes gave much information. There
were replicas of many famous telescopes, including
Galileo’s and Herschel’s, as well as actual telescopes from
various centuries. There were hands-on displays for
exploring effects of refraction and refraction, putting lenses in a row
to make a telescope, viewing various telescopes. A
display on adaptive optics had a telescope mirror (about 8”) with
the adapting mechanism on its back, and there was an
animated video showing how laser light and computer programs are used to
dynamically reshape the mirror during observing
and thus reduce the twinkling caused by the earth’s atmosphere. This
is the way the Keck telescope gets its superior
images.

6) An exhibit on different cultures of the world shows how using astronomical
observations can be crucial to the survival
of a group.

7) The Atwood Sphere is a planetarium built in 1913 and later restored
to functional use at the Adler. It is a large metal
globe with over 600 holes punched in it. A dozen observers stand on a platform
inside the globe, which is then closed,
and illumination comes from the outside. The globe turns showing the movement
of the heavens at night. It is a great
piece of history.

8) A mid-afternoon refreshment break at Galileo’s Café in the
planetarium provided a spectacular view of the Chicago
skyline.

9) The Adler Planetarium Web site (www.adlerplanetarium.org) has much useful
information, but there’s nothing like
being there! The planetarium’s docents and staff were very helpful
in answering questions and providing guidance.

We did not see everything, but our visit was a fitting close to the Year
of Astronomy, a year in which our enthusiasm for
amateur astronomy has been greatly stimulated and encouraged by activities
of the University Lowbrow Astronomers
and its members.